Does Phil Heath Use Steroids?

The results for the 2011 Mr Olympia are just in, its Phil Heath! All around the world, teens watched eagerly hoping they could someday be as incredibly massive as he is, but is it possible? Can you get as big as Mr Olympia Phil Heath without steroids? Well, here are Phil Heath’s stats according to wikipedia:

If you plug his data into this body composition calculator you will find that his Fat Free Mass Index (FFMI) is a whopping 35 – the largest FFMI possible without steroids is 26 according to the research reported in Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine 5(1995):223-28. Steeve Reeves who was a champion bodybuilder back before steroids were available had a FFMI of 25.7 and that is acknowledged as the maximum FFMI for natural bodybuilders.

So if you are a teen looking to bulk up, please set your expectations properly. If you workout hard, have flawless nutrition, and have the gift of perfect genetics then you can look like Steeve Reeves naturally – but it will take years, count on 5-10 years. Very few people have flawless genetics like Steeve Reeves did so dont even count on half his results.

All IFFB pro are on steroids. I don’t know anybody who thinks you can get as big as Cutler, Coleman, Heath or even the guy placing lasts at the Mr Olympia without the use of steroids. What is the point of this article? And Reeves is from another era where conditioning wasn’t as important. You can get much better results naturally in terms of conditioning than he did. Most natural bodybuilders for instance at the WNBF are more ripped than even Arnold was. But of course when it comes down to size it’s a different issue.

WTF are you talking about? That YOU can’t build up any decent muscle structure doen’t mean that no one can’t do that.Look at Ulisses Jr. That guy is much more bigger and ripped then this sucker from the thirties who looks even worse than me.

Dorian Yates, who has admitted to steroid use but supposedly not to an excessive amount says bodybuilders in his day had more definition but now these guys all look like the same body and it’s the chemicals that do it, more quantity but less quality.

If I had a cent for every stupid irrelevent thing I’ve heard about pro-bodybuilders, then I’d be a millionaire. Nobody cares if you think it’s disgusting or grotesque: your opinion DOESN’T COUNT. The only person a BB cares about is the judges and other bodybuilders, not your puusy ass. The health risks of steroid use are a man or a woman’s own concern: only meddlesome big-government Nazis are in favour of regulating and interfering with what you decide to put into your own body. That goes for ALL drugs. If you want to compete naturally, there are fine BB competitions for natural BBs. Otherwise there is the Mr O and the rest. BB is different from other ‘sports’ because they don’t compete on the completion of set TASKS like timed running or lifting a set weight or jumping so high: the winner is judged on purely aesthetic grounds, which are subjective.
It is essentially a BEAUTY contest with a narrowly defined and (to some people weird) concept of what constitutes beautiful. The only task that has to be performed with skill is the posing routine, which is more akin to dance or rhythmic gymnastics than any other athletic event. A BB should cnsidered in the same way as a ballet dancer: there is no cheating because there is no athletic standard of winning: it is more of an aesthetic performance: moving sculpture, perhaps or a heavily masculine dance display. The visual impact is EVERYTHING. It’s not about fitness, health, strength, speed or any other athletic consideration. Bodybuilder don’t like to be classed more as artists who work on themselves as sculpture rather than athletes who compete because of the cultural glorification of the ‘athlete’ above the ‘artist’ in our society but they are more like sculptors than athletes. And you can’t ‘cheat’ in art: anything that produces the desired visual or aesthetic effect is acceptable.

The Steve Reeves or Frank Zane look is much more appealing. Taking the chemicals out of the equation all champion bodybuilders would have won due to their dedication and discipline. Just because you take steroids eat chips all day watching Jerry Springer does not mean you'll get as huge as Phil all any other champion bodybuilder. It is busting your ass and doing the little things that will make you a champion.

Good article.Steve Reeves looks like he could get his clothes on the High street, the other guy would have trouble methinks.Cant help thinking it is sort of laughable to see a person walking all bow legged and arms akimbo because their limb muscles are so huge,they cant walk with a natural posture ,not to mention the strain on their hearts. Still ,some will blindly do anything to gain bulk regardless of the risks much in the same way a food disorder will take over in 'losing' weight.

Scooby, I'm really glad you posted this comparison- It's unrealistic for people (especially young bodybuilders) to want the same physique as Phil Heath. It's actually pretty disgusting in my opinion. Although later on Reeves looked super lean- maybe he was just carb cycling really hard.

If you want to impress chick go for the Reeves look. But these pro men choose to go for the freaky mass and thats ok in my book. That's why pro bodybuilding is a facinating sport because the competitor do not look like mortal men. Heath looks like the friggin He-Man or Thor ripped sraight out of comic books and I love it! I will never be nearly as big but I sure as hell am a fan! All you hater can be hating all you want.

The irony of male (competition level) bodybuilding is that the only people impressed or to whom they look attractive are other male bodybuilders. I have never (as in not once ever in my life) heard a woman exclaim that a Mr. Olympia sized bodybuilder had a body she liked. They (in my experience) overwhelmingly like guys who are lean and muscular like Ryan Reynolds.

I doubt any of them are doing it for the women. Also, keep in mind that they look so ripped and dry just 2-3 days/year. they peak for the competition, which means targeted water and sodium manipulation (also diuretics at the higher levels).
But again, if you set your physique goals just by what women want (just to please someone else), than even reeves is an overkill.

The only dilemma is for A/body builders to be natural or B/join the club of bloated Drug injecting fools!…no one makes a steroid addicted GH injecting pro bodybuilder!..he chooses that sad path himself……as long as guys worship just mass and size regardless of overall form, symmetry and aesthetics then meatball sted freaks will always be around and think they look cool when in reality most people think they look ridiculous and much prefer someone like Reeves …there is a cut off limit where people just say..wtf!..THATS TOO MUCH!.. and what 99%of most sane people ive ever met recognise that today's pro bodybuilders are cumbersome muscle-bound ugly JUST TOO MUCH freaks!

And no am NOT jealous of looking like Phil Heath thank you lmao for anyone who falls back on that old argument…who seriously would want too look like him!…only deluded half a brain ''look at me arn't I big duh'' cavemen fools would want to walk around looking like an overweight sted headed gorilla!

Take a look at guys like Layne Norton, Brian Whitacre, Jim Cordova and loads of others and of course Scooby..they look great without looking like bloated cheating drug addled freaks!

When teens read FLEX magazines and other hardcore muscle mags, they get the idea that all they have to do to look like Phil here is workout really, really hard and take all the supplements promoted in the magazine. This cruel joke leaves the teens poor, depressed, and with low self esteem. This is the only reason for this post.

It's the prisoners dilemma, where 2 fellow robbers are captured and are being interrogated in separate rooms. Logically, both should deny the crime, but they can't completely count on their partners cooperation so both tell the truth.

Same thing here, Phil Heath probably knows of the side effects of steroids, but can't not take them because he can't trust the other competitors won't and ultimately losing.

Page 226:"Thus, it appears that rare individuals, perhaps with some genetic orcongenital anomalies, may attain an FFMI in excess of 25 without steroids,but this level could be achieved by only a few nonsteroid users in the united states."

Steve Reeves used steroids and NO man on this planet has the genetic to look like Phil Heath without steroids. Why espcially you are telling that bull*** that it is possible to look like this in 5-10 years? Not in 100 years any1 get those arms, shoulders, chest, stop fooling ppl around.

Personally i much prefer the steve reeves look any day…this crazy trend in BB today just to pile on more and more muscle regardless of how unbalanced the end results are, demands that pro body-builders take more and more steds, GH and other mad often expensive supplements, despite the awful looking aesthetics of the ridiculous ugly muscle bound and totally unnatural look….sted heads will always love to talk about how big or strong they are or how good other sted headed body-builders look!..its in their shallow nature to keep looking in the mirror!…i say keep body-building 100% natural, no cheating!..even if steroid users still claim they need huge amounts of dedication and controlled lifestyles and diets its still CHEATING!..and unnatural!…most modern pro body-builders today look bl**dy ridiculous & so unbalanced …Phil Heath looks just like what he is! a bloated meatball sted head user who has no desire to do things naturally….i mean just look at his bloated traps…ridiculous!

I’m fine with your “personally I much prefer” part but please don’t disrespect Phil. He is truly a hard working guy and the word ‘cheating’ only applies when anabolics are not allowed as in natural bb competitions.